Indian River district ahead of Vision curve
Plan could lengthen school day
Only seven states spend more money on education than Delaware, but this state ranks 27th in educational performance. The United States spends more on education than most industrialized countries, ranking in the top five in the world, but it only ranks 26th in math and 17th in reading achievement levels.
Despite attempts to make Delaware and the United States leaders in education worldwide, students here still lag behind their peers across the globe. An 11-month Delaware study, compiled by a working group made up of Delaware businessmen, educators and representatives from the state department of education, addressed that concern.
The plan, unveiled this week, calls for longer school days, an emphasis on early-childhood education and more power for principals to help Delaware become a model for education worldwide — but is not mandated by the state. Indian River School District officials expressed concern with certain parts of the plan, including price involved with adding school hours, and said they already do much of what is called for under the plan.
“Every one of us will be making adjustments in how we work and how we hold ourselves accountable,” said Valerie Woodruff, the secretary of Delaware’s Department of Education. “We have chosen to work collaboratively to ensure the success of all of our students.”
The plan, dubbed “Vision 2015,” sets educational goals in Delaware for the next 10 years and beyond and states that if educators here can raise the high school graduation rate from the current 60 percent to 90 percent, those graduates will make an additional $2.6 billion “over their lifetimes, that could be invested in Delaware’s economy.”
Vision 2015 hopes to put a higher value on early-childhood education by, in part, subsidizing low-income families, empowering principals with greater decision-making abilities and requiring that districts train teachers to become more qualified in the classroom.
To help Delaware students compete with not only national but international peers, it also calls for adding 140 hours to the mandated Delaware 1,060-hour school year — a move that, if required, might cause tax increases.
According to Ron Gough, spokesman for the Delaware Department of Education, the program would cost the state and local school districts almost $70 million. The state would fund $48.8 million of that, with the 19 Delaware local school districts adding collectively $19 million.
Indian River School District Finance Director Patrick Miller, who noted that the district pays teachers about $533,000 bi-monthly, said that adding 140 hours to the school year would cost the district more than $1 million annually, and would likely require a tax hike.
“We would have to go to referendum to have the ability to raise taxes,” Miller said this week. “Can they guarantee we would be able to pass a referendum? No. There’s going to have to be some concessions for those districts that aren’t able to pass referendum or come up with costs.”
State leaders have not yet mandated the implementation of the plan and it is not certain that they will do so. It might merely serve as a guide to improving education across the state for districts that are struggling.
In Indian River, officials have already placed an emphasis on early-childhood education and longer educational hours, according to district Superintendent Dr. Susan Bunting, and have seen benefits in testing scores, which annually rank among the best in the state. Principals in the local district, who have budgetary and hiring powers and aren’t “clamoring” for more responsibility, also have more power than those in other districts statewide, Bunting added.
“This is (only) a reform idea until there is legislation that would enact a part of it,” said Bunting, who served on a subcommittee helping guide Vision 2015. “There are some good ideas and some good points to be made. (But) we already in this district do a lot of what is proposed.”
